Muslim World and the West

Dozens of children were killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike that hit a school bus in northern Yemen

There has been a never-ending debate in the Muslim World, including Pakistan, on why the faithful around the globe have been continuously experiencing problem after problem and why there is no panacea in sight. The general argument among the partially-educated or illiterate Muslims has since long been that the West and its stratagems have been responsible for the downfall of Muslims and their inability to restore their lost glory. This line of argument is hard to believe and a plethora of arguments could be produced for the West’s constant rise and the Muslims’ consistent inability to catch up. However, this is not the appropriate place to produce voluminous arguments and data but some recent events and incidents taking place simultaneously in the Western and Muslim countries could be thrown light upon to make the readers, including policymakers, understand the sea of difference between the Western and the Muslim World.

On August 9, the international media reported that dozens of children, many younger than 15, were killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike that hit a school bus in northern Yemen. Media showed loathsome footage of the victims. Saudi and its coalition comprise Muslims, whereas Yemenis also belong to the Muslim faith. In another part of the Muslim World that is Charsadda in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) province of Pakistan on August 12, six people, including two women, were killed and three others wounded in an exchange of fire between two families of close relatives over a petty issue of fixing of an electricity wire. Resultantly, three brothers and their sister-in-law were killed from one side, while a man and his wife died from the other side. In both incidents Western-made firearms may have been used but the intention and trigger(s) were local.

When these gory and abominable incidents were unfolding among many others in the Muslim World, NASA — the space authority of the United States, the heart of the Western World — on August 12 was sending off its first-ever spaceship to explore the Sun on a strategic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of the dangerous solar storms. The project which is worth $1.5 billion is named as Parker Solar Probe. The launch of the car-sized probe aboard a massive Delta IV-Heavy rocket is based in an unmanned spacecraft’s mission aiming to get closer than any human-made object ever to the centre of our solar system, plunging into the Sun’s atmosphere, known as the corona, during a seven-year mission. The unthinkable mission is guarded by an ultra-powerful heat shield that can endure unprecedented levels of heat, and radiation 500 times that is experienced on Earth. The probe will ultimately travel at some 430,000 miles per hour (692,000 kilometers per hour) making it the fastest-ever human-made object, speedy enough to travel from New York to Tokyo in one minute.

The above-mentioned incidents and events is enough to open the eyes of all of us Muslims and they provide much food for thought for our retrogression and the West’s unending progression.

Western countries have been able to dedicate huge amounts of money, energies and time to unabated scientific exploration and discoveries, mostly contributing to the welfare of humanity because there has been at least 500 years of ever-evolving civilisation behind it. At the heart of this civilisation is knowledge, and our Holy book, the Quran, repeatedly emphasises humans, including Muslims, to seek knowledge, and that there can be no comparison at all between a knowledgeable and an ignorant person. So why we Muslims have not been able to act upon the very teachings of Islam is a million-dollar question. The answer is not that simple but if one can understand it, it is not that complex either.

The sordid condition of Muslims for the last many centuries has been because of them turning their back on knowledge, and their over-indulgence and reliance on heresy and superstitions. The West has had developed the institution of nation-state, providing the very framework and environment for all other institutions — whether of education or judiciary — to thrive. Because in the West the establishment of the nation-state was mainly the result of at least one century of continual sectarian strife and warfare between the Catholics and the then newly-emerged Protestant sect within Christianity. Western nation-states after the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 become self-sustaining due to their provision of education to all their citizens and gradual introduction of democratic system of governance enabling their citizens to think about their future, welfare and development. Contrarily, the Muslims could not develop viable, self-sustaining nation-states.

In the case of Muslims, most of the nation-states have been the outgrowth of fiefdoms of a traditional ruling family, tribe or a confederation of tribes. These states could not become self-sustainable because the rulers continuously denied education and knowledge to their citizens and failed to introduce a democratic system of governance lest people should become masters of their own destinies, and the very importance and influence of the traditional authority figures should vanish. Therefore, most of the rulers of Muslim countries have been trying to reinforce their tribal and ultraconservative system of rule, rather control. In such an environment, conflict, disputes and disagreements cannot be institutionally and peaceably solved and an effective system of governance cannot be put in place. While in such an atmosphere, knowledge, including science and arts, cannot thrive, thereby making contribution to the welfare of people a far cry and to humanity a pipedream.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2018.

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